Federal NDP MP Olivia Chow has again urged Ottawa to release details of Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt's expenses during her tenure as CEO of the Toronto Port Authority.

Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt says she's caught in the middle of a dispute between two factions on the port authority board. Earlier this year, four board members complained about the lack of oversight of expenses.

Federal NDP MP Olivia Chow has again urged Ottawa to release details of Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt's expenses during her tenure as CEO of the Toronto Port Authority.

"If there is nothing to hide, then why don't they just say, 'There they are and here are the details' – and, yet, none of those details have been forthcoming," Chow (Trinity-Spadina) said at a news conference Sunday.

She was responding to a Star report that, on at least one occasion, Raitt signed off on her own expenses in 2008 after the board chair wouldn't sign, according to correspondence with the port authority's auditor.

The report also said nobody signed off on $50,000 in hospitality expenses at Harbour Sixty Steakhouse, including a $9,000 lunch, in 2008. Port authority officials were quoted as saying the expenses didn't require a sign-off because they were pre-approved.

Raitt took a leave of absence from the federal public agency on Sept. 9, 2008, to run for the Conservatives in Halton, resigning after her win.

Mired in controversy since its inception in 1999, the port authority owns and operates the Toronto City Centre Airport, the port, marina and waterfront land.

The issue of Raitt's expenses has long simmered in Parliament. Chow said two written requests to the House this year, as well as a Freedom of Information request, failed to produce details of hospitality costs at Harbour Sixty Steakhouse, located in the port authority's building.

In response to questions in the Commons last week, Transport Minister John Baird said there was "nothing new" in the Star report. He added: "The Toronto Port Authority has said many times that all expense and hospitality policies were followed."

In Calgary on Friday, Raitt said she's caught in the middle of a dispute between two factions on the board. Earlier this year, four board members, including three Conservative appointees, complained about the lack of oversight of expenses, as well as other issues, to Baird and Auditor General Sheila Fraser.

Baird didn't respond and Fraser said she didn't have the mandate to conduct a special investigation of the port authority.

"It's unfortunate that it features prominently in a piece – these kinds of accusations," Raitt said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

"This is a board issue, this is certain directors and other directors having a disagreement about a time and place and discussing it through the media."

Raitt continued: "What's happening right now is we have a TPA board matter, and clearly we're talking about a point in time when there was unrest within that port in terms of the board and it's continuing.

"You know there's two sides to every story and you've got one set of directors who are giving their side right now and there's another set of directors that I'm sure will come forward and talk about their side," Raitt said.

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